TAIPEI, Taiwan — Japanese pop culture has passionate fans worldwide, with the “One Piece”
exhibit in Taipei drawing many of them.

The exhibit, continuing through Sept. 22, is named for the manga series created by Eiichiro Oda
that has been translated into numerous languages.

The exhibit offers a place to explore the work’s charm.

One Piece has been serialized since 1997 in
Weekly Shonen Jump magazine.

Seventy-four volumes of the series have been published, and 310 million copies have been sold in
Japan.

The main character is Luffy, a mischievous boy with special abilities who sets off to become the
pirate king.

Along the way, he makes friends, and together they have adventures. The cast of characters is
large, with unusual allies and rivals always popping up.

The exhibit, which features original drawings, curios, videos and other items, was set up in
Tokyo in 2012 and in Osaka in 2013.

Although the series has been translated in at least 40 nations and territories, the event in
Taiwan marks the first international stop.

The exhibit features several new pieces.

Guests are immersed in the work as they stand next to life-size models of the characters and are
surrounded by comic frames displayed on the walls.

“The stories of Japanese titles have a high degree of perfection,” said Sadoshy Chang, the
former editor of
Formosa Youth, the magazine that publishes
One Piece in Chinese. “We want to nurture manga artists from Taiwan, but they don’t yet
have the skill to structure the flow of the story.

“In the future, I’d like to increase the market for manga throughout the entire Chinese cultural
sphere.”